Page 55 - 1st Anthology 2011

Jean Dodginghorse

I moved here in 1952. I met my husband Harry Dodginghorse, through a girlfriend named

May MacDonald. May MacDonald was working in town and we came to town to train my
half-sister and I. That’s how we met May, we stayed in the same place. We met May that
way and then from there to Sarcee, she brought us up to Sarcee and then we met those
boys like Freddie Eagletail, Harry Dodginghorse, Richard Dodginghorse, Robert
Dodginghorse, Amos Manywounds, Frances Manywounds, and all those that generation
year. That’s how I met them. Then we just chose the guys we like, I ended up with Harry.

My early memories of coming to Tsuut’ina is that things were done different, there were

no schools on the reserve. In terms of facilities there was nothing, just the Indian agent
and the churches. Oh, yes well looking back at the many years.

I was born at home on February 14, 1934. I was born at home. At that time my mother’s
generation they didn’t go to the hospitals. Kids were born at home. I was one of them to
be born at home. I was delivered at home by a midwife. They didn’t register me right
away, there was a conflict of days. Way, way back I could chose February 6, February 9 or
February 14. So I chose 14. My auntie keeps telling me in Stoney, the second moon just

talking Stoney. The second month is February and the second week. So February 9th or
maybe February 14. I had to make a choice, so I picked February 14. I was baptized as Jane.
In the process of time though Indian Affairs I have Jean on my records. Yes, by birth it’s
Jane when I was baptized as a baby it was Jane. So I chose Jean. I would never go back to
Jane.

Well I completed grade nine. Then I went on to Alberta College to do grade ten. I didn’t
finish when the social worker for Indian Affairs worked with us. They said you might be

interested in taking a course in Calgary. Of course I doubted that I could get out of
school, the program was grade nine. You can get in she said. So that’s what we decided,
and we pulled out of Alberta College, Beatrice and I from Hobbema. We came down to
Calgary.

In the process of it we took a test, what do you call it, the ALC test. The equivalent to
grade twelve. I took courses in my life I think that’s what the difference is. I took a
Community Health course at Lac La Biche, Community Health. The course I’m talking

about, the one I came down to Calgary for was Nursing Assistant so we moved here to
Calgary.

It was just community dances in the hall. Bullhead Hall, they use to have community
dances but they didn’t have what you call inter-tribal Indian days. They didn’t have that

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